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\u2019Tis the season for \u201cbest of\u201d lists, and reading other reviewers\u2019 lists of \u201cBest books of 2013\u201d is setting up my reading list for 2014 very well! Truth is, there are so many good new authors and so many interesting non-fiction books, being totally current seems hopeless.<\/p>\n
Of the 52 books I read (or listened to\u2014sometimes, an even better experience!) in 2013, here are the nine I liked best, the ones I gave five stars. The four-star books were pretty darn good, too. The entire 2013 list is on this website under \u201cReading . . .\u201d Below my top picks are presented in no particular order, with my two absolute favorites appearing at the end.<\/p>\n
***** The Empty Room<\/em><\/a> – Lauren B. Davis escorts us deep inside the head of Colleen Kerrigan, an alcoholic, on the \u201cworst-day-of-her-life.\u201d A trip full of insights and terror that helps us better understand people in our own lives and their demons.<\/p>\n ***** Victoria\u2019s Daughters<\/a> – Jerrold M. Packard. Getting all this complicated royal genealogy straight\u2014given that Victoria\u2019s descendants populated most of the thrones of Europe\u2014and the different fates of her five daughters was fascinating. It\u2019s hard to believe that Victoria, still so influential a presence in our literary minds, is the Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother of William and Kate\u2019s son George! Full review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ***** Flight Behavior<\/a> – Barbara Kingsolver. A misdirected swarm of Monarch butterflies starts this novel on its way, intermingling science and belief and the priority a cast of mismatched characters place on each.<\/p>\n ***** Gone Girl<\/a> – Gillian Flynn. A deathmatch between two manipulative people that causes the reader to continually switch assumptions and allegiances.<\/p>\n ***** The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection<\/em><\/a> – Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. The late 19th century Parisian demi-monde and the rise of scientific criminal detection. Full review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ***** Telegraph Avenue<\/em><\/a> – Michael Chabon. His usual high-quality writing and vivid characters whose fortunes become as entangled as jungle vines. What is it about? Ultimately? Everything.<\/p>\n **** Swamplandia!<\/em><\/a> – Karen Russell. Nominated for the 2012 Pulitzer. Wonderful writing, I gave it only 4 stars, but Russell deserves extra praise for fearlessly exploring metaphor up to (and sometimes beyond) its full potential.<\/p>\n ***** The Dinner<\/a> – Herman Koch (read by Clive Mantle). A \u201cnice dinner out\u201d turns into an emotional conflagration. The perfect exploration of family secrets and what it means to have an unreliable narrator.<\/p>\n ***** Billy Lynn\u2019s Long Halftime Walk<\/a> – Ben Fountain (narrated by Oliver Wyman). A finalist for the 2012 National Book Award and winner of the National Book Critic\u2019s Circle Award. For a war novel, there\u2019s almost no war in it. Fountain explores the limitless terrain of hypocrisy, as a small company of ordinary American soldiers is feted for its bravery at the Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2019Tis the season for \u201cbest of\u201d lists, and reading other reviewers\u2019 lists of \u201cBest books of 2013\u201d is setting up my reading list for 2014 very well! Truth is, there are so many good new authors and so many interesting … Continue reading